network effects Posts

An examination of the pros and cons of the EU’s recent action against Google. Should the EU have found Google guilty of anti-trust offences in its search business? And what can Google and other dominant players in the FAANG group learn from this experience?

After experiencing rapid growth since its 2008 founding and receiving a recent valuation of $10bn, Airbnb has become a standard-bearer for the much-hyped sharing economy. This socio-economic-technological movement is not entirely new; its roots are in traditional boardinghouses and more recently in 1990s internet precursors such as eBay and Craigslist. But Airbnb differs from, say, Uber, which I covered in my last post. Whereas Uber’s main focus has been on reorganizing the licensed taxi and limo business globally, Airbnb and other newcomers facilitate the matching of unused or surplus space owned by private individuals with travelers seeking a cheap, personal form of accommodation. What are the key ingredients for Airbnb’s ongoing success, and how should incumbents disrupted by Airbnb respond?

Uber seems to be taking the world by storm, disrupting the taxi industry and creating controversy everywhere, especially in Europe. The latest attention-getting company news, on June 6, was about a new $1.2bn. round of venture and other funding that gives the business a post-money valuation of $18.2bn. What’s going on? Are VCs and other investors hyping a promising new mobile app just to generate another massive IPO payday for themselves? Or is there something more substantial afoot? Astonishingly, Uber is already serving passengers in 128 cities in 37 countries, and doubling revenues every six months. Other industries such as rental cars, package delivery, auto makers, and even other transportation firms are becoming wary of the potential impact on their businesses as Uber eyes other target markets. How can incumbents in the taxi industry deal with this new threat in their midst? And how big can this thing get?